


The Cosmetology AU

by im_the_hero



Series: JeanCo AU [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Cosmetology AU, Fluffy, Getting Together, Jean was recently dumped, M/M, Marco is a Hairdresser, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 09:40:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6951184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_hero/pseuds/im_the_hero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i> The front door opened with a ding. Marco repressed a sigh-God he was so tired- and finished his digging, organized the clippers and guards before making his way to the front of the shop. And promptly stopped in his tracks.</i>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>  <i>He had the potential to be drop dead gorgeous, honey eyes shining with trepidation and agitation. His hair, while looking soft and touchable, was a dark brown, almost black. There's nothing wrong with that, but it was just so drab. Marco must have looked stupid, he reasoned with himself, because the guy got an angry look in his eyes.</i></p><p> </p><p>  <i>"I know I'm not the best looking guy ever but Jesus I can't look that bad." He said gruffly, rocking back on his feet. </i></p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cosmetology AU

The shop was so over booked with walk ins, Marco could feel his headache forming above his right eye as he said goodbye to his third client of the day. Wasn't Annie supposed to be refusing clients like Levi told her to? Marco couldn't complain honestly -more clients meant more cash in his pocket- but he hasn't eaten anything since six that morning and one simply can't live off Mountain Dew forever. His head hurt, his feet and back hurt, he felt like he had a film of soda in his mouth. All together, he felt gross.

"Marco, you have a client coming in in fifteen." Annie said. Marco groaned. "Why are we so busy? What gives?"

Connie laughed at him from the station next to him. "It's May dude. Prom, graduation, stuff like that."

Marco slumped in his chair, head lulling back as he fell in a boneless heap. "I'd leave, but I'd hate to do that to you guys, especially since Mikasa isn't coming in today."

Sasha, Connie's girlfriend, looked sympathetic. "Didn't you hear? Her brother and his boyfriend were in a car accident late last night."

Christa- cutting hair at the station opposite of Connie- gasped. "No! I know she wasn't feeling well yesterday, so I thought she was home sick!"

"Brother? You mean Eren?" Levi asked, walking out of the dispensary.

Christa nodded. "That's him. Didn't you guys have business classes together in college?"

Levi nodded, mixing the color in the bowl as he walked back to his client. 

Sasha looked at Connie through the mirror. "Is he always like that?"

Connie shrugged, parting his girlfriends hair for an all over color. "Kinda. He's not a bad dude, and he's the best guy I've ever worked for."

Petra walked out of the break room just then, water in hand. "Marco, go eat. There's pizza in the fridge."

"Microwave's broken. I can't eat cold pizza." Marco pouted. "Thanks anyway Petra."

She put the bottled water on his station and grabbed his Mountain Dew and threw it in the trash. "You're cut off, buy the way. This stuff is bad for you."

Marco stuck out his lip in a pout, but didn't argue. "Annie! Anymore after my client?" He yelled, too tired to care. 

"No, you can go home after him." Annie said, thumbing through a magazine. "He wants a fade, long on top. You know, that really trendy look right now."

"The Brendon Urie look?" Marco asked, rummaging in his drawers for trimmers, clippers, and guards. "That's super in right now. If I had enough hair I'd get that hair cut."

"Who the hell is Brendon Urie?" Connie asked, brow lifted in confusion.

"Lead singer of Panic! At the Disco." Sasha answered with a love struck sigh. Connie went red faced. "Oh babe you know I only have eyes for you. But he was my first celebrity crush. You know?" The front door opened with a ding. Marco repressed a sigh-God he was so tired- and finished his digging, organized the clippers and guards before making his way to the front of the shop. And promptly stopped in his tracks.

He had the potential to be drop dead gorgeous, honey eyes shining with trepidation and agitation. His hair, while looking soft and touchable, was a dark brown, almost black. There's nothing wrong with that, but it was just so drab. Marco must have looked stupid, he reasoned with himself, because the guy got an angry look in his eyes.

"I know I'm not the best looking guy ever but Jesus I can't look that bad." He said gruffly, rocking back on his feet.

That finally made Marco speak. "Oh no no no! You don't look bad at all! I'm really sorry! It's just- I mean. You look really good. Over all. I mean. You're super attractive. Your girlfriend is super lucky."

The guys face was still red, but the anger had drained out of him. "No girlfriend as of yesterday. Is Mikasa in? She's usually who I see."

Marco tried not to let that sting. He understood clients staying loyal to their stylist. "She's out today. Family emergency."

Guys shoulders slumped. "I'm sure you have other clients coming in, and I hate to do this to you, but I was also wanting haircolor too. If that's okay."

Marco smiled. "It's no trouble, you're actually my last client today. Follow me and we can get started. Annie, I need a chemical service sheet and the record with past services in them."

Annie looked bored as she did what Marco asked, leading Cutie Mc HotStuff to his station, motioning for him to have a seat while he grabbed a cape. "So, can I have a name or do I have to keep making up names in my head?" Marco asked when he turned around to drape his client.

"Jean," he said with a laugh. "What were you calling me in your head?"

"Stupid Mc DumbFace." Marco said with a smirk. "But I like your real name better. I'm Marco."

"I'm wounded." Jean fake fainted.

"You can be wounded later. Do you have a picture of what you want?" Marco looked up just as Annie was approaching with Jean's forms. "Thank you Annie, you're a real babe."

Annie just looked bored as she walked away, pink tinting her cheeks. That was as much of a thank you as anything.

"This is what I was wanting." Jean pulled Marco out of his thoughts, holding his smartphone out for Marco to look at the photo. Marco mentally pumped his fist in the air, it was the exact same haircut he had seen in his mind.

"We can totally do that." Marco said with a smile, hands Jean his phone, and finally opening Jean's service history. "If I'm reading your record right, you've been blond before. But is the color you have right now your natural color?"

Jean nodded. "I just let it grow out and got regular haircuts. The girl doing my hair before Mikasa fried it off."

Marco hummed in acknowledgement. "I think, we should lighten your hair to a pale blond, give you a dark silver shadow root, and tone the blond to a level nine warm beige. How's that sound?"

Jean looked like a deer in headlights. "I understood none of that." He said with a worried laugh. "What is going on? I'm so confused."

Marco laughed. "Okay, let me go grab a color book."

"I have the color book Marco." Connie said, putting a cap over Sasha's violet cherry hair. "Hey can you roll the dryer over here?"

"Yeah no problem." Marco said, unwinding the cord and plugging it in. Sasha handed him the book. "Thank you."

"Should I be scared?" Jean asked with a laugh.

"Nah," Marco replied as he crouched next to Jean with the book open. "Okay, so my thought is to lighten you to this blonde, which is a level ten. But we're gonna leave about a half inch of roots so you go longer without having to come in. And we'll deposit a dark silver-this one here I was thinking- to your roots and when we go to wash this out, I'll put a toner on the blond-and we'll get this warm beige."

"But what about the short part?" Jean asked.

Marco scrunched his nose. "Probably just silver. It'll give your hair a nice shine and beautiful dimension."

Jean let out a sigh. "Okay Michelangelo, I'm your canvas."

*****

"At first I wasn't so sure about this, but I think you've become my new stylist." Jean said while Marco towel dried his hair.

Marco's face flushed, making some of the freckles along his nose and cheeks disappear. "I couldn't do that to Mikasa. I'd feel awful."

"Dude, you have like, magic fingers. If I were a dog, my tail would be wagging." Jean said with a happy sigh, eyes half closed. Marco's face flushed darker.

"As flattering as that is, I'd still feel terrible if I stole you away from Mikasa." Marco dropped the towel into the dirty laundry and looked at Jean through the mirror. "Okay, so how do you normally style your hair?"

Jean looked at himself in the mirror. "Uh. Like this basically." Marco glared at him through the mirror. "What's wrong with the way I do my hair?" Marco hardened his gaze. "Would you stop with that look and tell me what the problem is?"

"The problem is that you have beautiful hair and you just let it flop wherever." Marco said, finishing with a long suffering sigh. "I'm gonna give you a lesson on how to style your hair. Send you home with some product. You're gonna look so good when you walk outta here the ladies will fall at your feet."

Jean laughed. "I appreciate the pep talk, but I'm not that heartbroken about the breakup. She was kind of a bitch, wouldn't let me see my friends or visit my mom without her. She just kinda smothered me. I wasn't allowed to drink, and she was vegetarian so god forbid I have a cheeseburger. Now that I think about it, she was so toxic. Are all girls like that?"

Marco grabbed a can or moose and squirted a small amount into his palm, massaging it into Jean's scalp. "Girls that I'm friends with? No, I've never seen them like that. Personally, I wouldn't know. Girls aren't my area of expertise."

Jean was quiet several moments. "Wow," he sounded like a laugh was bubbling up in his voice. "Way to live up to the stereotype." Giggles escaped Jean, smile stretching so wide the corners of his eyes wrinkled.

"I'll have you know, I didn't find out I was gay until barber school thank you very much." Marco said, releasing tension he didn't know he had until that moment.

"Okay, I gotta know. Have you ever had a crazy boyfriend?"

"Not really. It's been about two years since I've had a boyfriend." Marco removed his fingers from Jean's hair to grab his blow dryer and round brush. "Wait, I take that back. My last boyfriend was pretty bad. He um. Yeah, he was bad."

Jean's eyes locked on Marco in the mirror, hard and sympathetic at the same time. "What happened?"

Marco pulled an attachment from the left drawer of his station. "It doesn't matter. He's never gonna bother me again."

Before Jean could say anymore Marco turned the blow dryer on the fastest setting, wrapping the hair around the brush and holding the dryer attachment right next to it as he rolled the brush.

By this time everyone but Levi had left. Levi, being the neat freak that he is, cleaned everyone's station. He sprayed them down with bleach cleaner, wiped them down, sprayed water, then disinfected with barbercide . He double mopped the floors, once with quats, then again with the barbercide. He wouldn't leave until Marco was finished with Jean.

Jean's hair dried quickly. Marco grabbed some hair gel and rubbed it between his hands, then quickly running his hands through Jean's hair, settling it to Jean's left, laying elegantly and smoothly.

Jean looked sleepy in the chair, eyes half lidded but locked onto the mirror. "Dude, it looks awesome."

Marco smiled and wiped his hands on a towel. "I'm glad you like it. Levi, could you ring him up please?"

Levi looked bored. "You do it. I'll clean up. You never do it right anyway."

Marco sighed. He snagged the moose and the gel before motioning for Jean to follow him to the front desk.

"Don't have a heart attack on me, okay?" Marco said as he punched numbers into the register.

"It can't be more than one fifty." Jean said, leaned up against the counter.

"It's actually one-hundred and twenty five." Marco said as he bagged the moose and the gel. "This is on me. It's half used, so it doesn't really matter that I'm just giving it to you."

Jean pulled out his wallet. "Oh no, I can't let you do that. I'll still pay for it, just tell me how much it cost."

"It's fine, really." Marco said with a smile, pushing the bag into Jean's arms. "Think of it as incentive to come see me again."

Jean leaned over the counter, face just a few inches from Marco's. "How about I take you out for dinner instead?" Jean's voice was pitched low, quiet enough to convince Marco Levi couldn't hear the offer.

Marco was stunned. And exhausted. And sweaty and he ached all over. He wanted to take a bath with the bath bombs his mom had sent for his birthday, eat a whole pot of mac and cheese, and drink the rest of the red wine in the bottom of his fridge.

Marco opened his mouth to respond when his stomach growled, loud and long drawn out. With a scarlet face, Marco shut his mouth slowly, averting his eyes from Jean's intense gold eyes.

Jean laughed, smiling that big smile Marco was quickly falling for. Jean turned his head, resting his hand at the nape of his neck. "I was wanting a nice romantic dinner, but I hear the Chinese place down the road is awesome."

Marco really couldn't say no to the look Jean was giving him. "I'm so hungry, I'll take you up on that offer."

Levi appeared behind Jean in a heart beat. "If you hurt him I'll do the same thing to you I did to the last boyfriend." And was gone just as quickly.

"Don't worry," Marco said, grabbing his keys from the hook beside the desk. "as long as you don't do anything too stupid, Levi is mostly harmless. It's Mikasa and her brother you really need to look out for."


End file.
